


An Auspicious Beginning

by Sineala



Category: Frontier Wolf - Rosemary Sutcliff
Genre: First Kiss, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-03
Updated: 2015-01-03
Packaged: 2018-03-05 04:20:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3105485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sineala/pseuds/Sineala
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The night before the First Attacotti Frontier Scouts leave for Belgica, Hilarion brings a matter to the attention of his commander.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Auspicious Beginning

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Carmarthen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carmarthen/gifts).



> Here is a post-canon ficlet, like you asked for, but I'm afraid they didn't quite make it to Belgica.

With the Attacotti having been outfitted and provisioned, and with the new quartermaster consulted not once, not twice, but thrice -- with all that having been done, the First Attacotti Frontier Scouts were prepared to begin their journey toward Belgica on the morrow.

It was dusk, and Alexios strode through the transit-camp, past the cook-fires, past the dicing, past the men laughing and clinking together their sloshing clay mugs of heather-beer, with Hilarion at his heels. In the back of his mind, Alexios wondered how much Hilarion was shortening his stride, for Hilarion to be trotting at his heels like a tame hound.

Ah, that was an image. Alexios chuckled to himself, into the wind. Hilarion as a tame _anything_.

"You know," Hilarion said, chiding, as they reached the tent that served as Alexios' temporary command post, "you needn't fret so, sir. We haven't even left Britain. If it happens that we've missed some bit of gear or some critical communication, we will still be in Britain for days yet. Your superiors will be able to find us." He grinned and listed toward the tent-flap like he meant to lean against it before realizing that he couldn't. "They'll hear us coming for miles around."

"Yes," Alexios said, knotting the tent-flaps shut, hissing the word with more than a little frustration. He couldn't quite explain it to Hilarion, why the very outset of the journey must be perfect. "It is only that -- well, I know it is not my first command, but it is a new command, and I wished for it to be begun well. An auspicious beginning sets the tone for the whole matter."

Hilarion raised an eyebrow. "We began our acquaintance with me telling you the Third Ordo was made up of werewolves, and then I insulted your family and entire career. And yet somehow you liked me enough to ask me to serve with you in Belgica now."

"As you see," Alexios said, imitating Hilarion's dry tone, "there is a great deal of room for improvement in beginnings."

Bright-eyed, Hilarion laughed and clapped him on the back. "I fear I have ruined you, Alexios, inclining you to my jesting. Soon you'll be slouching about with the worst of us."

He shook his head. "Ruin me? You did no such thing. Or if you did, it was a thing I allowed because I wished it to happen."

There was a queer look in Hilarion's pale eyes.

"That reminds me," Hilarion said, and his voice was oddly soft. "There was a matter I wished to address with you, before we set out for Belgica tomorrow."

Alexios tilted his head up at him, quizzically. "What now? Is it more inventory? Because we--"

And then he could not speak, because Hilarion had stepped in close, quickly, as if he were attacking and needed to get inside Alexios' guard. Then he bent down and pressed his lips to Alexios' mouth, a fast dry press of warmth, before jerking up and stepping back again.

Wonderingly, Alexios brought his fingertips to his mouth; his lips tingled where Hilarion had touched them.

"Hilarion, what--?"

Hilarion took a shaking breath; it was nervous, so very unlike him. "I wished you to know," he said, quietly, "how I felt about you. So that if it would please you better to serve with another man, instead, there would be time to find one before you were trapped with me in Belgica."

In Alexios' mind, the world opened wider, like fort gates drawn back to the open road. This was something he could have. Something new. Something they could have.

"What if I decided that I wished you to stay?"

Hilarion sighed. "Then I would ask that you attempt to forgive me my rashness, and I shall never mention the matter again."

"No," Alexios said, and he caught Hilarion's sleeve before Hilarion could back away. "I wish you to _stay_. With me."

Hilarion's mouth opened, a small round "o" of surprise, and he grinned.

"Then, if that was what you had decided, I would kiss you again," Hilarion said, and he did.

Outside the tent, there was the crackle of the fires, the laughter of Alexios' men. Inside the tent, there was Hilarion, kissing him and kissing him. Tomorrow was Belgica, and the journey was well-begun.


End file.
